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OT: Natural gas dryer question

02-20-2009, 11:37 PM

I know this is a plumbing forum but maybe someone here has appliance experience. I have a NG dryer that is not drying my clothes fully. It gets hot but I think for a too short period of time. Any suggestions to what may be wrong? Thanks all.
Oops.. I meant to say I also thoughly cleaned the dryer and the venting too.

A) With nothing inside the dryer drum set to high heat and about 15 minutes on the timer. After it has run a few minutes go outside. Is it blowing quite a bit of hot air?

B) Next try it with a good load of damp towels and please check it about every 5 minutes outside. Also this time please check temp in the dryer drum too. You don't need exact temp. Is it hot but not burning up hot?

C) If there isn't good air flow through all the vent pipe and good air flow outside, then the dryer may well cycle on safety cutouts.

D) If the inside of the drum doesn't heat up well and there is good air flow then you should think about replacing the thermostat(s) and the limit switch. Normally dryers have more than just HOT and AIR. They may have WARM-DELICATE, MEDIUM-PERMA PRESS and HOT- COTTONS. That can mean there are 3 Snap Disk thermostats next to each other or a temp sensor and adjustable thermostat. Newer fancy dryers use a temp sensor and micro processor for control. (Yaupo Schight if you ask me!) If you listen with the dryer running and nothing in it, the gas should cycle on and off pretty frequently. Note the on and off time using a clock or watch. Try this for low and high heat settings. With it on HOT/High it should fire longer per cycle. Try listening when right near the dryer. It's wild what you should be able to hear happening.

If you happen to have poor air flow and can't figure what's wrong, try setting it to AIR-NO HEAT and remove all the vent pipe-tubing so it blows out the back of the dryer. Is there good flow now? If not, you need to take the dryer apart and clean out the blower chamber and anything connecting it to the drum. You want to locate the thermostat(s) and limit switch and clean them and the area near them. (This is normally a task for a trained repair person and not a DIY project.)

Bottom line: If you find your dryer needs much in service and parts you may want to think about replacement with a high efficiency model. Over say 10 years it will more than pay for itself in saved gas and electricity. No matter what be sure all vent tubing is well cleaned out. I push a small hand sewer snake in from outdoors, tie a rag to it and crank it and pull slowly so the mess end up outdoors. I do this several times and you would not believe all the caked up lint that comes out. The rag need to be a kind of tight fit but not a forced fit into the tubing.

Dryer blowers don't make much pressure and need free flow or you end up with much less than the design air flow through your dryer. This results in wild problems.

Good luck and please keep us updated. Sorry for what must seem like a rant here.

I only use liquid fabric softener and very little at that in the final rinse water. Personally I find clothes and towels are fine if well rinsed. Too many get dried full of detergent and bleach. EEEEEKKKK